Self-centering cafe door hinge assembly

ABSTRACT

A self-centering cafe door hinge assembly with automatic centering means is disclosed. The disclosure includes an upper, one-piece molded hinge with a pivotable hinge pin and a lower two-piece hinge including a lifting member and a pivotable hinge pin. The upper and lower hinges are adapted to be mounted on a door jam and interconnected to the top and bottom edges of onehalf of a cafe type door by means of the hinge pins. The hinge pin of the upper hinge is rotatable about its longitudinal axis and also along said axis while the same is true with regard to the lower hinge pin. The lower hinge also includes a lifting member and a cam surface so that upon movement of the door from its centered position to an open position, for example, the lifting member will ride on the cam surface and lift the entire assembly in a vertical direction until the open position is achieved. When the door is released, the force of gravity and the weight of the door will cause the lifting member to slide back down the cam means to a centered position. Built-in stop-slam plates are also included.

United States Patent Primary Examiner-Paul R. Gilliam AssistantExaminerDoris L. Troutman Attorney, Agent, or FirmFreeman & TaylorBurton et al. Jan. 7, 1975 l l SELF-CENTERING CAFE DOOR HINGE ASSEMBLY[57] ABSTRACT 5] Inventors: John C. Burton, Seville; Eugene Aself-centering .cafe door hinge assembly with auto- 3 Mfidma, both of01110 matic centering means is disclosed. The disclosure in- [73]Assignee: Questor Corporation, Toledo, Ohio cludes.an p one'plecemoldled hmge l a R able h1nge pm and a lower two-plece hmge mcludmg aFlledi P 1973 lifting member and a pivotable hinge pin. The upper andlower hinges are adapted to be mounted on a door [21] Appl' L704 jam andinterconnected to the top and bottom edges of one-half of a cafe typedoor by means of the hinge [52] US. Cl. 16/153 pins. The hinge pin 0fthe upper hinge is rotatable [51] Int. Cl E05f 1/06 about itslongitudinal axis and also along said axis Field of Search while thesame is true with regard to the lower hinge 186 pin. The lower hingealso includes a lifting member and a cam surface so that upon movementof the door [56] Referentte Cited from its centered position to an openposition, for ex- UNITED STATES PATENTS ample, the lifting member willride on the cam surface 2 224 232 12/1940 Peters 16/153 andlift theentire assembly Vertical direction 3:398:487 8/1968 Matyasm: 16/153 theP Position is achieved when the door is 3,628,845 12/1972 Grimm 16/153leased, the force, of gravity and the Weight of the door 3,648,3273/1972 Edeus 16/153 will cause the lifting member to slide back down thecam means to a-centered position. Built-in stop-slam plates are alsoincluded.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Patented Jan. 7, 1975 V 3,858,274

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Jan. 7, 1975 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SELF-CENTERINGCAFE DOOR HINGE ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The inventionrelates, in general, to hinges for use on cafe-type doors and inparticular relates to hinges molded from nylon or a similar materialadapted to be utilized with both wrought iron, plastic, and wooden doorsof this type to achieve an automatic selfcentering effect while stillpermitting the door to be held open in either direction without the useof any holding devices.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The following prior art is known toApplicant:

Enghauser US Patent 2.628.441 Hopkins US. Patent 2.920,340 Foltz US.Patent 3,083,402 Benham US Patent 3,107,758 Wargo US. Patent 3,1 l3,649Hentzi et al. US Patent 3,378,881 Matyas US Patent 3,398,487 Edeus US.Patent 3,648,327

Davis Design Patent 204.872

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to hinges adapted to beused in connection with either wrought iron or wooden cafe doors andincludes upper and lower molded hinge assemblies made of nylon or asimilar material.

The upper hinge assembly is a one-piece L-shaped member, one leg ofwhich is adapted to be secured to the door jam and the other leg ofwhich is adapted to be interconnected with the top edge of the cafe doorby means of a hinge pin.

The lower hinge assembly includes a leg member which is adapted to besecured to the door jam and which includes integral stop-slam plates.This lower hinge assembly is also adapted to be interconnected to thelower edge of the cafe door by means ofa hinge pin.

The hinge pins of both the upper and lower members are movable in avertical direction along their longitu dinal axes as well as beingpivotable about those axes.

The lower hinge assembly also includes a lifting member, centering meansand cam means so that upon movement of the door and thereby movement ofthe lifting means about the axis of the hinge pin, the entire assemblywill ride up the cam means until the lifting arm strikes one ofthestop-slam plates, thereby holding the door in the open position. Thedoor will be returned to its centered position by slight pressure on itfollowing which gravity will cause the lifting member to ride back downthe cam means to the centered position.

The invention has the advantages of simplicity and a minimal number ofparts while still achieving an automatic self-centering function withoutthe use of springs or any other such mechanisms.

Furthermore, because of the material which, as noted. is nylon or amaterial having similar properties, the hinges need no lubrication andwould be relatively silent in operation.

Accordingly, production of an improved cafe door hinge assembly of thecharacter described becomes the principal object of this invention, withother objects thereof becoming more apparent upon a reading of thefollowing brief specification, considered and interpreted in view of theaccompanying drawings.

OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of cafe doors inplace within a door jam.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view partially broken away in section showingthe upper and lower hinge mountings on a typical installation.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showingthe lower hinge assembly. with the door in its centered position.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the door pivoted to its openposition.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2 showingthe upper hinge assembly.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the lower hinge assembly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference first toFIG. 1, it will be noted that the upper and lower hinge assemblies 10and 20, respectively, are used to mount opposed cafe-type doors 30,30within a door frame 40. In the form of the invention illustrated, thedoor is of a conventional wooden construction, but as will be explainedin greater detail below, the invention, which resides in the hingestructure, is equally applicable to use with a wrought iron assembly.

Referring next then to FIG. 2 for a detaileddescription of the hingeassemblies, it will be noted that the door 300 has a projecting member14 which will take the form of a bracket of some sort. In this regard,the particular construction of this member is not of great importance tothe invention since it only serves as a mounting point for the upperhinge assembly 10.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, the upper hinge assembly 10 consists,essentially, of a mounting bracket 11 which is L-shaped in sideelevation having a central body portion 11c and a pair of opposedtapered raised bossess 11a and 11b extending from the bottom thereof tothe top and widening toward the top for support purposes.

Extending outwardly at right angles from the planar face of the bodyportion llc is a projecting portion 13 which is appropriately aperturedfor reception of the hinge pin 15 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5.

In the assembled condition as shown in FIG. 2, for example, a pair ofscrews 12,12 have been inserted in the door jam 40 through appropriateopenings in body portion Ilc to hold the mounting bracket 11 in place.Following this, once the aperture 14a in the bracket and the aperture13a in the projecting member 13 are aligned, hinge pin 15 can simply bedropped through the holes. In this condition, the pin is capable ofrotation about its axis and also is capable of movement in a verticaldirection indicated, for example, by the arrow 60 in FIG. 5 for purposeswhich will be described below. A push nut 16a can also be secured to thebottom end of the hinge pin 15 to avoid unintentional removal.

Referring next then to FIGS. 2, 3, and 6 fora description of the lowerhinge assembly 20, it will be noted again that a bracket 50 projectsfrom the bottom 30b of the cafe door, with this bracket again being asimple flat, metal plate having as its primary purpose a means ofinterconnecting the hinge assembly with the door per se.

The bottom hinge assembly 20 includes a mounting bracket 21 which has acentral body portion 22 and opposed bosses 22a, 22b which flareoutwardly from the bottom of the body 22 for support purposes.

Projecting upwardly from the body portion 22 are a pair of stop-slamplates 23 and 24. Both the stop-slam plates 23 and 24 in the bottom bodyportion 22 are apertured as at 220, 23a and 24a to receive three screws26,26,26 for mounting against the door jam as shown in FIG. 2.

The bottom bracket 21 also has an enlarged central body portion 25 whichhas opposed cam surfaces 25b and 250 and a centering notch 25a. The topface 25d of the body portion 25 has a through bore 25e therein forreception of the hinge pin as will be described.

Also, included in the lower hinge assembly 20 is a lifting member 27which consists of a flat body portion having an aperture 27a forreception of the hinge pin, and a slot aperture 271) for centering andsecuring the same to the bracket 50 as clearly shown in FIG. 2.

Depending from the bottom of the lifting member 27 is a lifting follower28 and in its assembled condition as shown, for example, in FIGS. 2 and3, the device is assembled by inserting the hinge pin 29 through theaperture 27a in the lifting member 27 and the aperture 25e in the bodyportion 25 of the lower mounting bracket. In the condition of FIG. 3,the lifting follower 28 seats at the bottom of the cam surfaces 25b and25c in the vicinity of notch 25a and in this position, the door iscentered and closed as shown in FIG. 1.

Upon movement of one of the doors 30,30 either to the right or left, thefollower means 28 will ride along the appropriate cam surface 25b or25c, depending upon the direction in which the door is pushed. Due tothe fact that the hinge pins and 29 are both rotatable about their axisand movable longitudinally along that axis, the entire assemblyincluding the door will ride up the track 25b or 250 as the case may be.This will cause movement of the pins and the assemblies in the directionof the arrows 60,60 as shown for example in FIG. 4 with relation to thebottom assembly. Once the door has been moved 90, the assembly will buttagainst the stop-slam plates 23 and 24 and will remain in the openposition with the lifting member resting on the top surface 25d ofcentral body portion 25.

When it is desired to close the door, it is simply necessary to barelypush the door 30, following which the normal force of gravity and theweight of the door will cause the entire door assembly to move back tothe centered position. The assembly will be dropping as the followermeans 28 slides down the cam track 25c until it engages the notch 25a atwhich time the door will be closed and in its centeredposition.

As noted above, the assembly has been illustrated as being utilized inconjunction with a wooden door which necessitates the use of extensionbrackets 14 and 50. It is also possible, of course, to utilize thehinges with a wrought iron cafe-type door which may or may not have itsown integral projecting extension brackets. In that event. it is merelynecessary to drill holes at the appropriate places in the brackets toalign them properly with the holes in the hinge brackets so that properclearance is achieved between the door jam and the ends of theextensions or hinges.

It has been shown, therefore, how a relatively simple, yet effectivehinge assembly can be produced by simply molding light-weight, nylonhinge assemblies which have a minimum of working parts, but whichachieve the capabilities of swinging a door open and holding it openwhile permitting the door to automatically return to its closed orcentered position without the use of springs or any other tension means.

While a full and complete description of the invention has been setforth in accordance with the dictates of the Patent Statutes. it shouldbe understood that modifications can be resorted to without departingfrom the spirit hereof or the scope of the appended claims.

Thus, while nylon has been mentioned as a suitable material, othermaterials having similar properties can also be used.

What is claimed is:

l. A hinge assembly for interconnecting cafe-type doors to a supportingsurface, comprising:

A. an upper hinge assembly including 1. an L-shaped mounting bracket,one leg of which is adapted to be secured to said supporting surface and2. a hinge pin interconnecting said door and the remaining leg of saidmounting bracket 3. said hinge pin being freely pivotable about itslongitudinal axis and movable linearly along said axis;

B. a lower hinge assembly including 1. an L-shaped mounting bracket, afirst leg of .which is adapted to be secured to said supporting surfaceand g 2. a hinge pin interconnecting said door and the remaining leg ofsaid mounting bracket and 3. said hingepin being freely pivotable aboutits longitudinal axis and movable linearly along said axis 4. saidremaining leg including an enlarged body portion having opposed camsurfaces carried thereon and terminating in opposed flattened horizontalsurfaces on said body portion; and

C. unitary lifting and centering means including a cam followerdepending therefrom and being I. secured to said door for movementtherewith and 2. interconnected with said mounting bracket by said hingepin with 3. said cam follower cooperating with said cam surfaces to movesaid door pivotally in a horizontal plane and linearly in a verticalplane and with said flattened horizontal surfaces to hold said door inan open position.

2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said first leg of said mountingbracket of said lower hinge assembly includes opposed integral stop-slamplates projecting upwardly from said body portion and disposed adjacentsaid flattened horizontal surfaces and adapted to be secured to saidsupporting surface.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said mounting bracket of said lowerhinge assembly includes a centering notch interposed centrally betweensaid cam surfaces.

1. A hinge assembly for interconnecting cafe-type doors to a supportingsurface, comprising: A. an upper hinge assembly including
 1. an L-shapedmounting bracket, one leg of which is adapted to be secured to saidsupporting surface and
 2. a hinge pin interconnecting said door and theremaining leg of said mounting bracket
 3. said hinge pin being freelypivotable about its longitudinal axis and movable linearly along saidaxis; B. a lower hinge assembly including
 1. an L-shaped mountingbracket, a first leg of which is adapted to be secured to saidsupporting surface and
 2. a hinge pin interconnecting said door and theremaining leg of said mounting bracket and
 3. said hinge pin beingfreely pivotable about its longitudinal axis and movable linearly alongsaid axis
 4. said remaining leg including an enlarged body portionhaving opposed cam surfaces carried thereon and terminating in opposedflattened horizontal surfaces on said body portion; and C. unitarylifting and centering means including a cam follower depending therefromand being
 1. secured to said door for movement therewith and 2.interconnected with said mounting bracket by said hinge pin with
 3. saidcam follower cooperating with said cam surfaces to move said doorpivotally in a horizontal plane and linearly in a vertical plane andwith said flattened horizontal surfaces to hold said door in an openposition.
 2. a hinge pin interconnecting said door and the remaining legof said mounting bracket
 2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said firstleg of said mounting bracket of said lower hinge assembly includesopposed integral stop-slam plates projecting upwardly from said bodyportion and disposed adjacent said flattened horizontal surfaces andadapted to be secured to said supporting surface.
 2. interconnected withsaid mounting bracket by said hinge pin with
 2. a hinge pininterconnecting said door and the remaining leg of said mounting bracketand
 3. said hinge pin being freely pivotable about its longitudinal axisand movable linearly along said axis; B. a lower hinge assemblyincluding
 3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said mounting bracket ofsaid lower hinge assembly includes a centering notch interposedcentrally between said cam surfaces.
 3. said hinge pin being freelypivotable about its longitudinal axis and movable linearly along saidaxis
 3. said cam follower cooperating with said cam surfaces to movesaid door pivotally in a horizontal plane and linearly in a verticalplane and with said flattened horizontal surfaces to hold said door inan open position.
 4. said remaining leg including an enlarged bodyportion having opposed cam surfaces carried thereon and terminating inopposed flattened horizontal surfaces on said body portion; and C.unitary lifting and centering means including a cam follower dependingtherefrom and being